I haven't shot three day eventing since the early '90's, Badminton was always the meet of that time. Used to shoot a good bit of polo a Cowdray Park too, but since I left the UK in '97 I've hardly seen a horse, funny because I am now back in horse country.

Badminton is still the one, originally one of the only two four * competitions in the world, the other being Burghley. Then Lexington ( Kentucky ) became a four *. If you were there in the mid 90s you may have seen Bruce Davidson ( father of the rider in Mac's picture) winning in 1995 on his wonderful horse Eagle Lion. The 90s were a good decade for the Americans at Badminton; David O'Connor won in '97.

Thanks, Northstar, and as an update, the event organizers asked for my sequence photo to use as their Facebook "cover" photo and I decided to give it to them (here it is at the top of their page: Red Hills Horse Trials). I'm pretty happy with the results given that it was my first time shooting horses

I told you it would run, I have seen that done so many times for extreme sports but not until now for eventing.

privatebydesign, I apologize, but I missed your earlier post and thank you for your comments. Yes, the shot worked out quite well, particularly when I found out it was a famous rider. That was very lucky for me as it was the only sequence shot I took! The idea came to me when I realized I couldn't "tell the story" of this obstacle in one photo.

Thanks, Northstar, and as an update, the event organizers asked for my sequence photo to use as their Facebook "cover" photo and I decided to give it to them (here it is at the top of their page: Red Hills Horse Trials). I'm pretty happy with the results given that it was my first time shooting horses

I told you it would run, I have seen that done so many times for extreme sports but not until now for eventing.

Yes, it's worked well. I looked at the Red Hills site and saw that the rider is Buck Davidson, son of the eventing legend Bruce Davidson who was always at the British four star events. I've also seen Buck over here at Burghley Horse Trials, he's certainly heading up towards where his Dad was, so I'm sure that's helped get on the front cover.

They tend not to put up images of riders who have crashed and burned on the course

Yes, it's funny how luck can be sometimes. He is a famous rider and that's funny that you've actually seen him and heard of his Dad. The light was awful, the shooting position cramped and on a steep hill, and I decided to try this sequence shot one single time. I had no idea who the rider was, but got quite lucky with this photo. To balance out my luck, however, for CIC3* I missed the winning rider entirely (not a single photo) and got the #2 rider in this hero shot on her CIC2* horse she rode that blew the course (note that she nearly went over the front of the horse moments after this was taken):

Thanks, Northstar, and as an update, the event organizers asked for my sequence photo to use as their Facebook "cover" photo and I decided to give it to them (here it is at the top of their page: Red Hills Horse Trials). I'm pretty happy with the results given that it was my first time shooting horses

I told you it would run, I have seen that done so many times for extreme sports but not until now for eventing.

Yes, it's worked well. I looked at the Red Hills site and saw that the rider is Buck Davidson, son of the eventing legend Bruce Davidson who was always at the British four star events. I've also seen Buck over here at Burghley Horse Trials, he's certainly heading up towards where his Dad was, so I'm sure that's helped get on the front cover.

They tend not to put up images of riders who have crashed and burned on the course

Yes, it's funny how luck can be sometimes. He is a famous rider and that's funny that you've actually seen him and heard of his Dad. The light was awful, the shooting position cramped and on a steep hill, and I decided to try this sequence shot one single time. I had no idea who the rider was, but got quite lucky with this photo. To balance out my luck, however, for CIC3* I missed the winning rider entirely (not a single photo) and got the #2 rider in this hero shot on her CIC2* horse she rode that blew the course (note that she nearly went over the front of the horse moments after this was taken):

Don't admit to that ! I thought you were being really astute as a newbie equestrian photographer ! Seriously though, I have found over the years that you need a little luck to get on.

Don't admit to that ! I thought you were being really astute as a newbie equestrian photographer ! Seriously though, I have found over the years that you need a little luck to get on.

Oops! Actually in my case, it wasn't important. My client wasn't too interested in who was in the shots, so I wasn't worried about getting the winners. For my own benefit, it would have been nice, and next time, I'll check the ride order sheets to make sure I'm in the right place at the right time. It's actually pretty easy to do and when I was asked to get shots of two of the riders, I just set up at an obstacle and waited for them.

Also, I really had a great time and considering I'm near one of the prime US equestrian locations (Ocala, Florida), I think I might get into shooting more Eventing. The people were really friendly and the photographers that were covering the event mostly shoot to sell souvenir photos to the riders, so there's definitely a place for other niches.

I went to Belmont Park over the weekend to have a picnic with friends and family. Decided to test out my new 1.4x extender on the 70-200 2.8II. Pretty nice results- Especially considering I was shooting "sports" with a 5D mkII. This was the only horse race I shot that day, so was happy I caught a few cool frames as they passed me.

Chuckwagon racing. 1Dx, 70-200 f/2.8 IS II, 4x 600EX-RTs HSS max power. Considerable abuse in LR5. I'd like to have enough light to balance the sun in a shot like this but I have a feeling that would run afoul of my budget, common sense and several arms control treaties...

Chuckwagon racing. 1Dx, 70-200 f/2.8 IS II, 4x 600EX-RTs HSS max power. Considerable abuse in LR5. I'd like to have enough light to balance the sun in a shot like this but I have a feeling that would run afoul of my budget, common sense and several arms control treaties...

Jim

In a photo like this, I am curious how the four lights were set up. Can you explain how and why?Thanks in advance.

Chuckwagon racing. 1Dx, 70-200 f/2.8 IS II, 4x 600EX-RTs HSS max power. Considerable abuse in LR5. I'd like to have enough light to balance the sun in a shot like this but I have a feeling that would run afoul of my budget, common sense and several arms control treaties...

Jim

In a photo like this, I am curious how the four lights were set up. Can you explain how and why?Thanks in advance.

They were on stands about the height of the driver's face pointed directly at it, to my left and a little behind me. I wanted some fill to balance out the sun. Ideally I'd have more lights, and them spread over the length of a rig (viz the wagon and the horses) with the lights twenty or thirty feet down the track from the camera on sticks, and stand at the lights with a remote trigger to shoot when the subject gets into the light. Gels too! I missed that detail and had to screw around in post for a time.

I make no claim to expertise but at this point in my life I'm happy with this one. I would trade a klondike bar for a 1Dx that syncs at 1/1000 without using HSS though...